Jan Zawadzki

I'm a technical CEO and AI leader with over a decade of experience at the intersection of AI, software, and automotive. I'm currently building a new company in the agentic reliability space, focused on making AI agents dependable enough to trust in production. As Head of AI at CARIAD SE (Volkswagen Group), I established and scaled AI engineering hubs in Germany and China, delivering safe AI for infotainment and autonomous driving. I went on to serve as CTO & Co-MD of CertifAI, building solutions to test, assess, and certify AI products against global standards with backing from Dekra, PwC, and the Hamburg Innovation Fund. As CEO of AHEAD Automotive, a corporate venture backed by ZF, Hella Forvia, Niterra, and Clarios, we served the independent aftermarket with market insights and AI-based products. Across startups and corporates, I've led teams with full P&L responsibility through build-ups, restructurings, and turnarounds. I created the widely adopted AI Project Canvas and AI Solution Canvas, write as a top contributor on Medium, and collaborated with DeepLearning.AI. I guest lecture at Oxford University, ESMT Berlin, and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and speak regularly at leading conferences. I hold an MBA from ESMT Berlin and an MSc in Computer Science.